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Piranha
Piranha was a competitor robot that appeared in the second series of Robot Wars Extreme. It fought exclusively in the New Blood Championship, reaching the second round where it lost to Pressure on a close judges' decision. Design Piranha was a silver, rounded box-shaped robot armoured in aluminium with four plated spikes along its top panel, and featuring a 1 metre swinging arm as its weapon. The arm featured 1-inch serrated blades along its bottom and functioned in a similar way to an axe/hammer, with the team referring to this weapon as a 'saw-hammer'. The robot also featured solid rubber wheels for optimised traction and had a high top speed of 25mph, although its 'saw-hammer' was unproven as a self-righting mechanism and did not prove effective during either of its battles. The Team Piranha was entered into Robot Wars by a Dorset-based team, consisting of team captain Rhys Bennett, who drove Piranha in battle, and Melanie Bennett. The two team members referred to themselves as 'Professor Piranha' and 'Miss Ile' on-screen, respectively. The team received advice from Team Razer while building the robot as well as the use of their workshop to cut the metal for the robot's unique weapon. This connection was heavily emphasised during the team's interviews with Philippa Forrester, with Simon Scott and Ian Lewis even being present with the team before their battle with Pressure. Qualification After first being selected to compete in the New Blood Championship after entering open applications, Piranha attempted to enter its first main series in the Seventh Wars, where it fought Tanto in its qualifier battle. Although Tanto reportedly won the battle, neither robot would end up competing in Series 7. Robot History Extreme 2 Piranha fought in Heat D of the New Blood Championship, and faced Fatal Traction and Doctor Fist in its first round battle. It immediately turned towards and hit Fatal Traction with its blade, before pushing it around the arena and stopping its flywheels in the process. Piranha continued to swing its blade aimlessly at Fatal Traction as Refbot pushed Doctor Fist closer to the pair, the latter appearing to have steering problems and failing to get engaged into the battle even after a shove from Piranha. Piranha began attacking Fatal Traction again, aiming to hit it a few more times with the blade, but missing. Fatal Traction pushed Piranha into Matilda, with both robots narrowly avoiding being hit by her flywheel. They continued to push each other around the arena and exchange blows with their weapons as Doctor Fist was pushed onto the Flame Pit by Refbot and attacked by Mr. Psycho and Matilda, eventually being counted out by Refbot and carried to the Flame Pit again by Mr. Psycho. This allowed Piranha through to the second round along with Fatal Traction. There, Piranha was drawn against Pressure in the heat semi-final. Both robots started tentatively, before Pressure pushed Piranha side-on and lifted it against the wall, leaving Piranha vulnerable to an attack from Matilda as her flywheel tore part of its front armour apart. Piranha swung its blade aimlessly as it escaped, before bumping into Pressure and being lifted once again. It retaliated by swinging its blade a few more times onto Pressure's top armour and self-righting mechanisms, all the while pushing it towards Shunt and pinning it against his scoop. After simultaneously taking damage from Piranha's blade and Shunt's axe, Pressure eventually escaped and lifted Piranha once again, with Piranha again charging head-on into its lifting scoop in an attempt to strike its top a few more times. Piranha was pushed around in circles before driving away for another head-on charge at Pressure, which saw Pressure lifting it again near the Flame Pit as Piranha tried to strike it with its blade. The two robots separated, and continued to nudge, push and drive round each other until 'cease' was called, with the battle going to a judges' decision. Despite the multitude of blows it delivered to Pressure, the decision went against Piranha due to the damage it sustained from Matilda, which both teams and Craig Charles immediately disagreed with. Nevertheless, this decision eliminated Piranha from the New Blood Championship. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 1 *Losses: 1 Series Record Trivia *The nickname used by Melanie Bennett on-screen, Miss Ile, is identical to a competitor robot from the Third Wars of the same name. Category:UK Series competitors Category:New Blood Competitors Category:Extreme only competitors Category:Robots from Dorset Category:Robots with Unique weapons Category:Animal Based Robots Category:Robots with an equal amount of Wins and Losses Category:Robots which debuted in Extreme 2 Category:Robots which only fought in Extreme 2